1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a network system connected with multiple master devices and a method for operating the same. More particularly the present invention relates to a network system connected to multiple master devices and a method for operating the same, wherein a new master device can be automatically plugged into a network such that it can be easily installed and managed by the network, where the new master device is first connected with the network or is additionally connected to the network with which at least one existing master device is connected.
2. Description of the Related Art
Networks have been recently constructed within homes or buildings, and home appliances connected to such networks communicate data with other home appliances through the networks. Furthermore, the use of such home-appliance network systems capable of monitoring states of the home appliances and controlling the home appliances has increased.
Thus, through the above-described home-appliance network systems, a user can identify a state of a specific home appliance anywhere within the home and input a control command to the home appliance. Moreover, where the network constructed within the home is connected with an external Internet network, a range of control of the home-appliance network system can be extended. Hence the user can obtain the increased convenience of controlling the home appliances, in that the home appliances can be controlled by a remote control device.
The above-described home-appliance network system will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. FIG. 1 is a view illustrating the configuration of a conventional network system, and FIG. 2 is a view illustrating the configuration of a conventional network system connected with multiple master devices.
An internal network N, including a power line or a LAN (Local Area Network) line, is conventionally constructed within a home or building such that a home-appliance can form part of a network system. A plurality of home appliances are connected to the network N such that they can communicate data with the network N. A communication protocol of a home appliance is the same as that of the network N.
The home appliances connected to the internal network N are classified into master devices MA and slave devices SA. A master device MA receives information indicating states of the home appliances. A microcomputer (not shown) for carrying out signal processing and a display unit (not shown) are mounted on the master device MA such that the state information can be externally displayed. The master device MA further includes a key input unit (not shown) allowing a user to input a control command. For example, the master devices can be an Internet-based refrigerator, an air conditioner, a computer, etc. In the figures, the Internet-based refrigerator and the air conditioner are shown as the master devices in FIGS. 1 and 2.
Further, a network interface module is provided in the master device MA such that the master device MA can be connected with an external Internet network I. As the network N within the home and the external Internet network I are connected to each other, the home appliances can be remotely controlled by remote control devices C1 to Cn which are capable of accessing the Internet network.
Slave devices SA1 to SA4 are passive home appliances controlled in response to control commands that are input and/or transmitted through the master devices MA. For example, the slave devices SA1 to SA4 include a microwave oven, an electric light, a television, a telephone, etc.
Where a new master device MA is first connected to the network N indicated by a dotted line in FIG. 1, the conventional network system must carry out an initial setting task. This is needed for sending state information and connection state information, associated with the slave devices SA1 to SA4, such that the master device MA can identify all slave devices SA1 to SA4 connected to the network N. Because a worker has to be sent by a provider of the network N to manually perform the initial setting task there is a problem in that the user must request the provider of the network N to carry out a re-setting task for the master device MA, when an operating error of the master device and a communication error of the network N are detected after the initial setting. Moreover, there are problems of increased cost and waste of time for the re-setting task of the master device MA.
As the internal network N and the external Internet network I are connected to a master device MA1 having the network interface module connected to the external Internet network as shown in FIG. 2, the network system is constructed to control the home appliances connected to the internal network N using the remote control devices C1 to Cn. In the constructed network system, the existing master device MA1 is used as a first master device being a data processor connected to the network N and a master device MA2, newly connected to the network N, is used as a second master device such that a workload of data processing imposed on a master device is distributed between the two master devices MA1 and MA2. Where the network system connected with multiple master devices is used to control the slave devices SA1 to SA4 as described above, there is another problem in that internal setting tasks of the respective master devices become complex and hence an additional cost is incurred for the internal setting tasks.
In order for a replaceable home appliance to be connected to the network N in place of the existing master device MA1 connected to the network N, an operating system and user data associated with the existing master device MA1 must be transferred to the new master device MA2. Thus, the conventional network system causes the above described problems due to complex manual procedures.